The Power of Music

Today has been a rather slow one, which suits me! I don't react well to stress; my ideal sort of day is where I have plenty of stimulating work to do, but it's all straight forward with no hassle. I must feel that I have plenty of time to do the work and that there are going to be no problems with it; I need feel that I just have to work my way through it. In some ways I'm lazy, but I do like to keep busy and today I was busy, doing stuff that wasn't really important. My kind of a day! There was a problem but it wasn't my problem: we were running out of the Hovis Concentrate for the Hovis Digestives. I told the Key Op as soon as he came in and left the problem in his hands; I just made the most of the concentrate that we had left. It was quite fun actually. Unfortunately next week will not be fun, I'm mixing all week. For some reason the programme for next week is very busy meaning I've got to go downstairs to help with making the doughs, which I'm not too keen on because there is a lot of scope for screw-ups when mixing, which I have made plenty of in the past. I really hate the job but I don't really want to move to another job that is almost the same as the one I've got, and that's all I've found so far. What am I going to do?

During this week I have been wearing my old walkman while walking to and from work. This is not something I make a habit of doing, usually because I'm tight-fisted and don't want to waste batteries. However I recently bought a battery re-charger so now I have a never-ending supply of virtually free batteries meaning I have no reason not to use my walkman all the time (except that would be stupid!). There is something about the power of music to uplift the spirit and brighten the soul; I like to listen to music anytime I can and miss it when I can't. While writing these blogs I have to have no music so that I can concentrate on what I'm writing. I would much prefer to have something playing and I have tried it a couple of times but I really am better off without any music while writing, which breaks my heart.

There are some songs that really speak to my inner-most being and pull on those heart-strings. Just before starting this blog I put VH-1 on for a couple of minutes and Elton John's tribute to Diana was playing. That is one of those songs that really get to me. Just the imagery surrounding it is enough to set a somber note to the tune as everyone's mind goes back to that Sunday morning back in the summer of 1997 when we woke up to find out that Diana, Princess of Wales had died. The most poignant lines of the song for me are towards the end; they are:

Goodbye England's rose

From a country lost without your soul

Who'll miss the wings of your compassion

More than you'll ever know

This line just seems to sum up everything for me about the loss of Diana, that England (and by extension, the World) will miss her more than anyone, much less England itself, will ever know. The country lost a great soul that day and I don't think it will ever recover.

Other songs that make me cry (or at least put a lump in my throat) include "Forever Autumn" by Justin Hayward. I remember last summer I was listening to Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds while driving to Wales to do some walking and when that song came up, even though I was driving, I could feel myself welling up. It took a lot of will power to ignore the song and concentrate on the road. Another song that gets to me is by a little known artist named Martyn Joseph who wrote a song called "Please Sir". It is another sad song, just like the other two songs I have highlighted, and is about a mining village that has seen all it's pits closed. The chorus goes:

Meanwhile little David takes his books off to school

And learns of the times gone past

When it comes to questions he puts up his hand

There's something that he just has to ask

Please sir can you give me an answer

Please sir you know it doesn't seem fair

Last night as I walked through the door

I thought I saw my father crying sat in his chair

These lines are so moving for me that they are getting to me now just by typing them out. I don't know what it is, whether it is the sense of utter loss or bewilderment or just the hopelessness of it all, but it's not the tune that sets me off. I've just tried reading all the words of the song from the beginning and I was crying before I got to the end of the chorus. Music has this power to cut deep into our soul and touch us at our deepest part.

I think this teaches us that we must be careful about what we listen to. If music is able to delve deep into our being we must be careful we don't allow music that will corrupt our spirit to take hold. The music that we listen to must not be destructive but that doesn't necessarily mean it must be up-lifting. We mustn't listen to music that will darken our mind and our thoughts making us think on things that are unwholesome. It depends entirely on the person which songs fall into that category; some Christians would say that they would only listen to Christian music, but I wouldn't go along with that, mostly because I think most Christian music is crap. If a song is not well-produced then it doesn't appeal to me and is unable to speak to me, no matter what the lyrics are about. A lot of Christian music is cheaply produced wallpaper music with barely Christian lyrics, no doubt designed to appeal to middle America. I listen to any music that I find appealing, which is usually songs with a strong melody and good production values, most importantly of all, the songs mustn't be destructive to the spirit.